Image Bank
Hartlepool
Dorothy Robson - 'Bombsite Bertha'
This is Dorothy Robson, whose father owned a chemist shop in Hartlepool. Dorothy did well at school and in 1937 she went to Leeds University to study physics. It was quite unusual for a girl to go to University in those days, and even more unusual to study a science subject. By the time she left Leeds World War Two had started and Dorothy went to work for the Ministry of Aircraft Production. Her job was to develop bombsites on aircraft, so that bombs could be dropped more accurately. The aircrews she worked with nicknamed her ‘Bombsite Bertha’. On 3rd November 1943 Dorothy was testing the bombsite in a Halifax aircraft, as the plane flew across Yorkshire it entered into fog and crashed. Three of the crew were killed immediately. Dorothy and two more of the crew were taken to hospital. Sadly, they all died shortly afterwards. It was one week before Dorothy’s 24th birthday.
Activity: What's the story?
Look at the picture and read, listen to, or print the story.